Ideal strain gauge location for evaluating stress intensity factor in edge-cracked aluminum plates

Abstract The stress intensity factor (SIF) must be determined accurately to analyze crack propagation and structural integrity in cracked material structures. This research focuses on improving the strain gauge location for single-ended fractured aluminum plates using a finite element method. The study examines the impact of fracture length-to-width ratios ( a / W ) on the estimation of r max , the maximum allowed radial distance for accurate strain measurements. Strain fields under various mesh refinements were simulated using PLANE183 element from ANSYS software, and the results showed a strong association between mesh density. The results demonstrate that an improved strain gauge location greatly increases SIF measurement precision, limiting errors due to plasticity effects and strain gradients near the crack tip. Furthermore, mesh convergence studies show that mesh refinement produces negligible gains after a crucial refinement level. This study offers helpful recommendations for the positioning of strain gauges in fractured mechanics applications, guaranteeing precise SIF assessment for failure avoidance. Finally, confirmation against previous research shows a relative error of less than 3%, confirming the suggested methodology’s dependability.